In our opinion: Northern's work honored by $15 million gift

November 21, 2012

Millicent Atkins School of Education.

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Atkins' name should be forever linked to Northern State University's education school on the basis of her generous $15 million gift to the university. Northern President James Smith announced the gift Saturday evening, the largest gift ever given to Northern, he said.

Usually, a gift of this magnitude would come from a corporation or an alum who had gone on to some fame or prominence in his or her field.

By all accounts, the 93-year-old Atkins, who died in July, was a private person who quietly bought Brown County land until she had more than 4,100 acres. Friends say she was frugal and a good businesswoman.

She earned a teaching degree from Northern State College, according to her obituary, and did teach for a few years before moving on to farming.

That Northern State experience must have made an impact for her to be so generous in her will. That says something about the quality of people at the school.

Though the School of Education will benefit directly, all of Northern can be proud, and the effects of that $15 million will no doubt be felt in attracting additional quality students and faculty to Northern's campus.

The question for today's educators: Who in your classes right now are learning and having a great experience at Northern? Who in your room will look back so fondly at their time at NSU that they remember the university 70 years from now? What are you doing to make a lasting impact on students?

Thank you, Millicent Atkins, and thank you to the Northern teachers of the 1940s, who can't know what a difference they've made today.